Go to next character under cursor in Vim

Question

As stated in the header, I would like to go to the next occurrence of the character currently under the cursor in Vim. I know about f <character>, etc., but I specifically want "this" character. How do I do this?

Answer 1

It does not exist natively.

If you want, you can create a new mapping (bound to <leader>a for example). Add the following to your .vimrc and restart:

nnoremap <leader>a vy/<C-R>"<CR>


" vy : copy the character under the cursor
" / : open search
" <C-R>" : paste the character
" <CR> : launch the search

Then each following search will be available via the n key as usual.

(Leader is by defaut the \ key but can be remapped with the command :set mapleader = )

This is not part of the question, but I should add that for easy navigation, it is a good idea to have look at easymotion plugin and know that it exists.

Answer 2

I'm not aware of a built-in equivalent to * for the character under the cursor but the mappings below should cover your requirements:

nnoremap <silent> <key> "zyl:normal! f^Rz^M
nnoremap <silent> <key> "zyl:normal! F^Rz^M
nnoremap <silent> <key> "zyl:normal! t^Rz^M
nnoremap <silent> <key> "zyl:normal! T^Rz^M

^R is obtained with <C-v><C-r> and ^M with <C-v><CR>.

Answer 3

You can do:

yl:normal! f<Ctrl-R>"<CR>

Explanation:

yl— yank (copy) the character under cursor into the " register
:normal — execute a Normal mode command that follows
f<Ctrl-R>"<CR> — insert the contents of the " register and run the f{char} command.

Of course, you'll want to create a mapping for the command to make it usable.